Once upon a time there lived a little girl who grew up with two brothers. She cried her way through her first ballet class and refused to go back. She was strong, powerful and better than most of the boys on her sports teams. All dresses were banned from the kingdom. She didn’t relate to girly-girls and her Barbie dolls played right alongside G.I. Joe and He-Man. Even as an adult, she threw up a little bit in her mouth the first time she attended her first all-pink baby shower for a friend. Fast forward to the present day, when this little girl had a little girl of her own…
I always assumed my daughter would be more of a tomboy because she certainly wasn’t going to get the girly from me.
Despite having two brothers herself and me as her mother, my little girl is all about the princesses. Whether it is her innate personality or simply inevitable in this day and age, it seems as if she came out of the womb wanting the sparkles, the dolls, the pink and purple. We look at books and point out every “pippess.” She picks out her clothes and either grabs a tutu or tops each outfit with her dress-up Cinderella gown. Our little princess is only two. She has never watched a princess movie. All she knows is that they look like nice people so she likes them.
Truthfully, I don’t have marked animosity towards princesses. I personally love Disney movies and while I did an entire study on gender roles and Disney movies in college, I really hope one can discern cartoons vs. reality. If they can’t, then we have bigger dragons to slay…
THERE ARE PLENTY OF THINGS FROM THE “PRINCESS LIFE” THAT I DO WANT FOR MY DAUGHTER.
I do want her to meet her Prince Charming. Every girl deserves a man who will whisk her off her feet. As long as she knows she is capable and can handle things on her own, there is nothing wrong with letting her Prince do things for her every now and then. She deserves to be loved and treated like the most important person in his life.
I do want her to wear rose colored glasses. I want her to be positive and be able to see the rose through the thorns. Life is tough, but a positive attitude and faith will help her in so many ways.
I do want her to be a friend to all. I want her to appreciate the beauty around her. I want her to nurture our beautiful earth and all of its creatures. I want her to see the beauty in everyone and everything, no matter how different from herself.
I do want her to live Happily Ever After. Who doesn’t? Of course she will inevitably know hurt, sorrow and pain, but I want her to learn to get back up and fight for the life that she wants. I want her to know that even through the bad, she has the power within herself to turn things around.
I want her to believe in miracles and recognize them as they appear throughout her life.
I want her to know that sometimes we must make sacrifices in order to have what we most desire.
I want her to fight for the good.
I want her to feel beautiful and to know that true beauty comes from within.
While she may have thrown a little character twist our way, we are confident that we can help guide her storybook to instill the values we wish to bestow. She can dress how she wants, play with whatever toys make her happy, but we want her to know being a princess means so much more than pretty dresses and being whisked off into the sunset.
On a daily basis we ask her:
Are you a SMART princess?
Are you a BRAVE princess?
Are you a STRONG princess?
Are you a KIND princess?
Are you a TOUGH princess?
Are you a HELPFUL princess?
(As she gets older, these adjectives can grow with her: Resilient, Selfless, Compassionate, etc.)
I figure as long as we teach her to be a strong, brave, smart, confident princess, she will have the necessary armor to fight off the Big Bad Wolves, stay away from the Evil Queens, and continually fight for her Happily Ever After.
